Rush, Saxby and Zaxbys Aced [updated]

Gamecock has been persuaded to oppose Chambliss and the gang of Ten proposal by the arguments in the comments, all of which were good and cumulative, but the one that tipped me was Texas Ace, whose comment I put in the update below.

But guys and gals, let’s not be so harsh with Saxby at least on the motives.

Ace’s arguments:

I understand your points but I couldn’t disagree more on several points:Democrats have just made a colossal blunder by going home in the middle of this mess proving everything Republicans have said about the imperial, “Let them eat cake” attitude of San Fan Nan and the rest of the effete snobs that make up the modern Democratic Party. The Dems are swimming up stream against public opinion that is running 75% against them. This turn of events has injected a little spine in the “Run for the hills if there’s an R by your name” gloom and doomers in the Republican Party who are finally fighting like mean instead of sniveling in a corner waiting for the shoe to drop! As Republicans keep beating on them, they are home right now getting kicked in the groin by 75% of their constituents. In short…they’re getting a good taste of reality now and we shouldn’t do anything to get in the way of the beating that is being delivered! I agree that there are some issues to not play politics on…but this ain’t it. Are people hurting right now?…hell yeah! But the compromise they made doesn’t do enough to alleviate that suffering and now is the worse possible time to cave because once the Dems have had their heads handed to them, they’ll be back wanting to do everything we’re asking for! By caving now, Saxby Shambles and Little Lord Fauntleroy, (as Doc calls him) have bailed them out of their predicament at the exact moment when the Republican party is on the brink of victory. This wouldn’t be so infuriating were it the first time they have done this but it’s not. They always time their capitulation at times that either cause maximum damage to the Republican Party or as in this case…to bail out the Democrats at a time when Republicans are winning!

Lots of families in Marietta, Georgia can no longer afford to take their kids to Zaxbys for some great tasting chicken, and they don’t want to wait until no earlier than 2009, 2011 or 2013 as they wait for “the issue” to produce a “perfect” solution.

Especially when we can have both.

I refer here to the presumed conflict between the reawakening of Republicans in the House of Representatives via their week old sit-in strategy demanding a vote on an oil drilling bill as Speaker Pelosi and the “let them eat cake” aka “let them pump tires” Democrats went on a five-week vacation paid for by We the People, too many of which can’t afford a five-minute vacation at KFC, much less five days at Myrtle Beach, thanks to the price of gas and its impact on the price of food and nearly every other necessity of life.

Rush Limbaugh and conservatives have been rightly buoyed by the actions of the House Republicans and even of President Bush and John McCain, in seizing this issue, in understanding we are at war with leftists that want to transform the greatest hope of man on earth, and to use the oil drilling issue and others to translate the center-right conservative majority of We the People into a majority in Congress and a Republican President receptive to the demands of same in passing a truly comprehensive energy bill that unleashes the power of American free enterprise that has made us the most powerful nation on Earth.

The goals of a bill now to tilt the market toward immediate low oil prices and a conservative majority and better bills next year are not mutually exclusive, so long as Marietta’s and the Peach State’s U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)and the other four GOP senators in his “gang of five” within the gang of ten, make clear that they desire and will work toward even further expansions of energy exploration and reductions of regulations inhibiting the building of oil refineries and nuclear power plants later.

Rush raised some good points with Saxby on Friday concerning the effect of the gang of ten on the House effort, as well as the effect of the proposed legislation on the automatic expiration of the oil drilling moratorium, unless renewed by the House, this October. (Chambliss made a good point about how same could be put in a difficult to veto budget bill and that getting this gang of ten bill would be an improvement.)

The Chambliss bill could cause the price of oil, gasoline and food to fall.

Must I repeat the above and remind the generally affluent Redstate readers of how much lower income families have been for months and are suffering NOW? They are not living the American dream anymore. They need relief asap, and the Chambliss bill offers relief soon and does not preclude more progress later.

In fact, it can easily be used as a catalyst for further progress. For that to happen though, Rush’s usual optimism will need to get properly focused and the always looking for a dark cloud Redstaters and the like will need to quit their masochistic desire to always eat their own and embrace gloom and doom.

And one more thing: The gang of five repubs were working on their bill well BEFORE the House GOP’s spontaneous sit-in and trying to get some democrats to expand oil drilling and agree to a bill that could send a signal to the markets that supply will be going up, at least as strong as the one President Bush sent by ending the executive moratorium that has helped reduce the price of a barrel of oil by over 25%.

It is not fair to say they pour cold water on anything when their work was revealed before the sit-in. I heard of the gang of ten’s proposal at least 18 hours before the sit in!

We conservatives can win this war with the left, but as we pursue total victory, we have battles that are vital now.

Low income families need relief now, as in September. The Chambliss bill offers that hope and in no way prevents pursuing more. Those that think so have little imagination.

Respectfully submitted by

Mike dittohead of 17 years who wrote the TMR/HinzSight tribute to El Rushbo gamecock DeVine